Advertisers say shows aren't fresh

Fox is bold. ABC is going for laughs. NBC and CBS are playing it safe.

That was the consensus of a sampling of media buyers who assembled last week in New York to hear the networks pitch their new shows for the fall TV season.

"The networks I'm bullish about are ABC and Fox," said Gene DeWitt of DeWitt Media in New York. "CBS and NBC just haven't done enough."

The advertisers interviewed did not detect the fresh new look that the networks were promising. Instead, they largely found a stable of steady, familiar faces guiding the networks through the new season.

"It's a familiar television landscape," said Jack McQueen, senior vice president of FCB-Telecom.